Wolfe: Tech's Praise of Failure Is Disingenuous and Founders Are Faking It
Josh Wolfe · 20VC: The 3 Forms Of Edge A Founder Can Have, Lessons From Being on A Board With Bill Gates & Why There Are A Lot Of Tourist VCs Who Are Going To Lose A Lot Of Money, with Josh Wolfe, Co-Founder @ Lux Capital · May 10, 2017 · at 23:10
Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital, discusses the culture of Silicon Valley and startup founder authenticity with 20VC host Harry Stebbings.
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“I think that there is a culture that talks about praising and prizing failure, but I think it's disingenuous. I think people pretend to wear failure on, you know, as this badge, and every time you ever see an entrepreneur and you ask, oh, how are things going, you know, they're like, it's amazing, everything's amazing, and they feel like they have to keep this false front up, and then two weeks later, you hear that their company just went completely under, and so I think that there's this fronting that goes on, which is unnecessary, and I think that there could be much more honesty and The culture could change to be more open. You don't have to fake it so much, and I feel like so many people are out there just faking it, and you'd have more authentic relationships, you'd have more honest dialogues, investors would be spun less. Of course, when you are starting out, you've got to pitch something that doesn't yet exist, but there's a thin line between that and a con game, and I think that there's a lot of people out there that are just totally faking it.”
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